


The Fall

by MrProphet



Series: A Brief History of Skull Island [2]
Category: King Kong (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 16:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10700538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	The Fall

Perhaps it was the drums. In the past they had been used, knowingly, to build the congregation at the Koli Kong temple into a frenzy during rituals; now they were beaten by the new lords of Skull Island in mockery of the old ways, but the effect was the same. So, perhaps it was the drums that had turned the people into animals.

On the day the old order fell, the drums sounded from dawn until dusk. As the sun set, the fires were lit; burning oil was poured into the trenches on the walls and blazing brands were set along the top of the mighty gate which had been built across the breach in the old wall. By the time the prisoners were brought out – the chiefs of the old clans, the fallen clans, the clans that had been; the toré-Kongs who refused to support the new way – the eyes of the crowd were empty of thought, their faces distorted with hate and savage rage.

“This is not the way!” Shako Akaa cried out, struggling against her captors. “We live by the Mountain and the Sea and the Wall and the Kong, not by blood! Not by fire and death!”

“It's no use,” Yothi Akaa-dai told her wearily. “They're not listening. They can't hear anything but those accursed drums.”

“They must hear!” Shako protested. “Not just for us! For them! If they do this, they are lost!”

The prisoners were led up to the top of the gate and lined up on the parapet, while Shako – with the conviction of youth, ever the most outspoken critic of the new lords and their brutal order – was bound to two posts at the centre of the gate.

“These people are already lost,” Yothi told Shako. “They are not our people anymore; the spirit of our people died with Nari Akaa toré-Kong. The last ghost of our people dies with us tonight.”

“It can not be the end.”

“It is. There is nothing left but savagery.”

“I won't believe that.” She turned her head towards the old chief. “If I can die well... If I can show them...”

“Toré-Kong!” The Witch-Woman – the oldest and most powerful of the toré-Kong who had betrayed their vows and sought power over the people they had promised to protect – levelled a gnarled, claw-finger at Shako.

“Why are you doing this?” Shako demanded.

“Toré-Kong!”

“Why?”

“Toré-Kong!”

Yothi shook his head. “She's gone,” he said disgustedly. “They have abandoned thought along with everything else.”

With a groan, a long, wooden bridge began to unfold from the gate, taking the posts with it. Shako screamed as she was dragged forward, hanging by her arms in mid air, her feet kicking at the void.

“No!” The sight of her distress roused Yothi from his apathy. “What are you doing? Let her go!”

Along the wall, the old challenge horns blared.

Tears streamed down Yothi's face as the trees of the jungle began to shake and creak and crack. “By the Wall and the Mountain, no!”

A kong, huge and powerful, pushed out of the treeline. It fixed Shako with his intelligent, black eyes and reached out with a steel-grey paw.

“No!”

A stick was thrust into Yothi's back. As he plunged into the fires, he was momentarily grateful that he did not have to outlive his daughter.


End file.
